Back in 2014, when Christianity Today ran the cover story, “ The Unexpected Defenders ,” about the women in apologetics, I began to realize that women in the field of apologetics just aren’t as well known. My understanding was confirmed over and over from experiences with female audience members who are searching for female apologist role models. It took awhile for this one fact to sink in: women are encouraged to engage in the life of the mind when they see other women doing so. And that is one reason why I’m grateful for the organization, Women in Apologetics .

First, evolution doesn’t explain what it’s meant to explain. It can only account for preprogrammed behavior, not moral choices. Moral choices, by their nature, are made by free agents. They are not determined by internal mechanics. Second, the Darwinist explanation reduces morality to mere descriptions of behavior. The morality that evolution needs to account for, however, entails much more than conduct. Minimally, it involves motive and intent as well. Both are nonphysical elements that can’t, even in principle, evolve in a Darwinian sense. Further, this assessment of morality, being descriptive only, ignores the most important moral question of all: Why should I be moral tomorrow? Evolution cannot answer that question. Morality dictates what future behavior ought to be. Darwinism can only attempt to describe why humans acted in a certain way in the past. [2]

I was once heard the story of a father and son who were watching a boxing match. When the fight started, one of the boxers crossed himself, prompting the son to ask, "Dad, will that help him win the fight?" The father responded, "Only if he can punch." And that begs the question: Does God really get involved in sports events? Does He care who wins a boxing match – or a football game?

"Copan’s presentation of the #Christian theistic #worldview is philosophically and theologically sophisticated, but also accessible. This is my go-to book on the various topics relating to the #Philosophy of religion."
#Reflections by @RTB_KSamples http://reasons.org/explore/blogs/reflections/read/reflections/2018/02/06/take-up-and-read-loving-wisdom …

John and Ed call out “Catholic” Senators who supported late-term abortions, protestant “ministers” who blessed an #abortion clinic, and ask where all the “whole-life” #progressiveevangelicals have been when it comes to abortion. http://bit.ly/2nKWHyP pic.twitter.com/kw06ZwjQEy

Although this assertion is largely rejected by scholars in all spheres of historical and biblical studies, it tends to pop back up on social media like a never-ending game of digital whack-a-mole. The truth is that Jesus is not only documented in the eye-witness testimony compiled in the New Testament, but He is mentioned as a historical person by several non-Christian sources within 150 years of His life. From those sources, we can learn 10 things about Jesus without even opening a Bible:

What I’m finding in our culture is that the need for apologetics is even greater than before, since we live in a culture where truth is now based on feelings rather than facts. When a lawyer asked Jesus how to inherit eternal life, Jesus answered in Luke 10:27, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind …Yet people don’t see the need for apologetics. I think one of the biggest reasons is because people have a false sense of security about their beliefs and that of their children. Many believe, “I’m a Christian, and my kids have been raised in Sunday school or youth group, so we’re good!” Here’s the problem with that: unless one has been challenged in theological conversations with others about the Christian faith, they will not realize that they don’t even know why they are Christians, and nor do their children. If one doesn’t know why they adhere to a faith, how solid do you think one’s faith will be as soon as it is challenged? 1 Peter 3:15 tells us we need to always be ready to make a defense to anyone who asks us for the hope that is in us.

Please pray for us tonight as we head over to the University of Louisville with @AlbertMohler for the first of the Ask Anything Tour on college campuses. Pray that we'll have gospel opportunities to give a reason for our hope in Christ. https://askanythingtour.com

Is the US placing sanctions against Pakistan ad well? Our country aided them financially, including weapons, for years in their efforts to aid Afghanistan in throwing off communism. No freedom for Christians in Pakistan? Rake them financially over the coals.

Life is often compared to a maze. Marriage and Family Therapist and contributor to Huffington Post, once wrote to the point, “In review, we see we have taken wrong turns, hit dead ends, lost time, meandered in wrong directions and twisted and turned at unexpected places. We thought we were going one way and had to head another. We are born into this maze”.[i] Deveric’s post goes on to describe the purpose of life and how to navigate the labyrinth. She goes on to write that the maze is navigated by perceptions and expectations, comfort and belonging, and other mental constructs. But, she writes, “No location within the maze can be the end goal because time will forcibly move you and death will take you out.” With this in mind, let’s examine worldview like a maze—an ever changing perspective but steadily moving…

Grade: B
“Another proof that Asimov is capable of at least somewhat interesting characters. The first part of the story is the most compelling, as an apparently free source of energy is revealed to have dire consequences and pretty much nobody cares. Free energy is free, right? So who cares if everyone will die billions of years in the future? It’s the exact kind of reasoning that would probably be used, to the end of us all. But that dire feeling is mostly lost at the end of the book as Asimov changes its tone into a kind of future look at human colonization of the moon and the problems that might face. Yes, there are still references to the earlier portions of the book, and the solutions offered are interesting, but it lost something of the truly bleak and all-too-reasonable feel of the beginning chapters.”

In his chapter on antimicrobial existence as an icon of evolution (Chapter 8), Wells discusses the cancer hypothesis as another proposed example of “speciation” of sorts. This claim goes back to Julian Huxley in 1958, and continues today. Most recently, Joshua Swamidass used cancer not as an example of speciation, but of evolution by mutation and selection of the “fittest variants” (not fittest for the host, obviously). Swamidass and others try to view tumor cells as innovators. Wells looks into the examples provided by evolutionists and finds them lacking true novelty. They only rewire existing complex functions, but already have existing complex resources to draw on (p. 166). This is not innovation. It’s more like theft.

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BreakPoint: Philadelphia’s Faith-Filled Football Champions. There were plenty of intriguing story lines behind Philadelphia’s amazing #SuperBowl win. One was the #Christian faith of so many of the #PhiladelphiaEagles . http://bit.ly/2EHKmTX pic.twitter.com/1hb2BJrbbK

When I was an atheist, I held many presuppositions that tainted the way I investigated the claims of Christianity. I was raised in the Star Trek generation (the original cast, mind you) by an atheist father who was a cop and detective for nearly thirty years before I got hired as a police officer. I was convinced by the growing secular culture that all of life’s mysteries would eventually be explained by science, and I was committed to the notion that we would ultimately find a natural answer for everything we once thought to be supernatural.

All this week @amyorrewing will be speaking at @the_OICCU lunches on what does it mean to be truly human? http://www.oiccu.org/human-events Watch this space for updates throughout the week! pic.twitter.com/pVtTxHHSF5

One way human beings clearly differ from the animals is in their inner existential longings. Many people describe experiencing an innermost yearning for a deeper meaning and purpose to life, and sometimes even a secret desire for God and eternal life. But why do people experience such longings? And do such existential yearnings reflect something more than mere human subjectivity?

But this turned out not to be exceptional for Chapman. He practiced this kind of love at all levels, great and small. He frequently gave needy people he met the literal coat off his back. Or he’d give away the last bit of money he had, even if it was his train fare home from some place. This happened with some regularity, and when it did, Chapman would board the train and simply ask the Lord to provide his fare, which he always did. The frequent guests who stayed overnight at his home always found their shoes cleaned and set outside their doors in the morning. And since many of the folks who attended his church were domestic workers who had precise work start times, he sought to always begin and end meetings on time.

Is public school an option? For Christians who take the Christian worldview
seriously and who understand the issues at stake, the answer is increasingly
no. The number of Christian parents coming to this conclusion increases each
year. We can understand the nostalgia that many Christians hold about the public
schools. I spent every minute of my school life from the first grade to high
school graduation in a public school. And yet, I saw the ideological transformation
of the schools before my own eyes. Long ago, the public schools entered a Brave
New World from which no retreat now seems possible.

But is money more spiritually dangerous than theology? The answer may be trickier than we think, especially within the numbing comfort of a proudly affluent and educated American church. Money is a tangible, countable, often visible god. Theology, on the other hand — if it is cut off from truly knowing and enjoying God himself — can be a soothing, subtle, superficially spiritual god. Both are deadly, but one lulls us into a proud, intellectual, and purely cosmetic confidence and rest before God. Theology will kill you if it does not kindle a deep and abiding love for the God of the Bible, and if it does not inspire a desire for his glory, and not ultimately our own.

Hey friends! This week I'm addressing questions in the Ask RZIM forum of the RZIM Connect online community. If you would like to ask a question about faith, God, or apologetics, I'll do my best to answer! #apologetics #RZIM https://connect.rzim.org/t/ask-matthew-mittelberg-february-5-9-2018/2150 …

"The world imagines it will see diversity spring from a culture that promotes individualism. But true diversity will only come as we die to ourselves and prefer the needs of others."
Thankful for @pastordeelowg https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/diversity-world-cant-achieve/ …

Hey Alisa, this was a great article. It is very common for people to mistake church tradition for biblical facts or loose theological interpretations for biblical facts as well. I think of the oft-repeated "fact" within so much of the evangelical world that Satan took with him a third of the angels to make up the demons. This "fact" is based on one verse (Revelation 12:4) and one that is not terribly explicit at that and is in the most difficult book to interpret in all of Scripture. Many very sound and conservative evangelical scholars believe that many of the numbers in Revelation are symbolic or are estimates and so even granting that "stars" here is in fact referring to angels, the reference to "a third" could simply mean a very large number of the angels fell.
I so love and appreciate what you are doing with this website. Keep it up.

God has made it plain to us that we exist to magnify his incomparable beauty and worth. “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). But in order to glorify God from your heart, you must delight in him above all else. Joy is not optional. Delight is not peripheral. Satisfaction is not secondary. They are the root of all Christ-exalting love for people, and all Christ-exalting worship of God.

Statements like these are more common than you might think. In fact, your kids may also be wrestling with similar doubts or concerns . That’s why it’s important for us, as parents, to be ready to answer our kid’s questions and teach them how make the case for Christianity. The evidence for Jesus is strong and persuasive, but few Christians are prepared to articulate the evidence to others, especially our own kids. I have four children of my own, and when they were young, I wanted them to have the tools and truths they would need to be good Christian ambassadors. I wanted them to understand their worldview and to be able to defend it against competing ideas. If you’re raising kids and are similarly concerned, here are three quick tips to help you prepare your children to defend the truth:

In celebration of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II launching on Windows PC Feb. 14th we're doing two streams with two giveaways. See you there!
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What should we believe about the Spirit and his relevancy for this age? Join Richard B. Gaffin, K. Scott Oliphint, and many more at the 2018 Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology. Register today: http://westm.in/2DvUxJO

There was never a more important time for Christians to understand the delicate balance between faith and reason. God has established both “faith” and “reason” as an integral part of our spiritual journey. God never envisioned that we would have defective faith. Unfortunately, too many Christians stick their heads in the sand and don’t think through issues; many Christians are paralyzed by the need for certainty and never exercise their faith; and far too many Christians never have enough confidence to walk across the room to talk about their faith. We live at a time where we can’t ignore either faith or reason. If you want to learn more about the divine balance of faith and reason, pick up my book Footprints of Faith: Defending the Christian Faith in a Skeptical Culture.

A pastor must never forget that God sent him to love the people, not merely to imbue them with biblical facts. When a congregation hears a pastor’s love for them, they will accept his teaching much more readily. Loving pastors will still face occasional opposition, but it will usually be much less angry in its tone and also less able to stir up others. Jesus said that the greatest mark of our discipleship is that we love each other. No pastor can make disciples of his people if he lacks the most significant element of discipleship himself.

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According to Open Doors, Indonesia is on an overall negative trajectory in terms of freedom and protections for Christians. The continuing persecution of Christians in Indonesia provided the US judges grounds for staying deportation orders, as it is considered unconstitutional to deport immigrants to countries where they are likely to face persecution or torture.

How Does It Corroborate the Life of Jesus?
Interestingly, the Gospel of Peter confirms and acknowledges much of the Passion narrative without actually utilizing material from Luke or Matthew. This has caused many scholars to wonder if the Gospel represents yet another independent eyewitness account or is referencing source material that was also referenced by the other Gospel writers (the latter opinion being that of more ‘liberal’ theologians and literary critics). The Gospel of Peter agrees remarkably with much of the Passion narrative, identifying Pilate and Herod by name, and identifying Joseph (presumably of Arimathea) as the “friend of Pilate” who asked for Jesus’ body. The details of the Passion are then described in a manner similar to the canonical Gospels. Jesus is taunted and subjected to the crown of thorns and the purple robe. His opponents beat Him and slapped Him and ultimately crucified him between two thieves, placing a sign on His cross that read, “THIS IS THE KING OF ISRAEL”. His garments were divided and the executioners gambled for them. They gave Jesus gall and vinegar to drink.